@Emera Lore

Emily nodded.
"Whenever you are ready."

Eric nodded.
-"What my sister has said."

However, they both blinked when they heard her mention the need to reduce mana. Eric pointed to the small dirt cave.

-"There is always that. Emily and I were hiding in there when our curse triggered at sunset last evening. It is a nice place to hide. No one and nothing saw us."

Emily nodded.
"Hopefully it will work for what you need it for."

@Vampiretwilight

Aela smiled and nodded a thanks toward Emily and held one of Eric's hands briefly. "I will be right back." Aela retreated into the cave and began to empty her mana. Flames licked out the side of the cave and sometimes a blast of different colored flames surged from both ends of the cave. This happened several times about eight or nine with each time getting less intense than the last. Once Aela was done she returned to Emily and Eric she looked a bit relaxed if a bit tired.
"Shall we go on?" Aela took the lead of moving around the swamp by her calculations hopefully they would reach the middle of the swamp's circumference by nightfall.

@Emera Lore
Emily and Eric both nodded. They would wait patiently for her. However, they would worry about her. Emily gasped. Eric frowned. Both of them had seen the different colored flames that came out of the cave during that time. They both looked at each other, worried looks on their faces, before they glanced at the cave again. Soon enough, they saw her come out of the cave, looking better.

Emily stood up, followed by Eric. Both of them nodded.
"If you are ready to."

Eric walked up to her.
-"Whenever you are ready to go on."
He held her hand for a moment.

@Vampiretwilight

Aela clasped Eric's hand gently her hands were very warm probably from summoning her flames. But, as their hands were clasped they began to cool down. They were soft though there were some calluses on her palm and her fingertips the back of her hand was extremely smooth.

"I had an odd dream last night..parts of it had to deal with my brother. But some of it, was with you. After all this was over." Aela layed her head on Eric's shoulder as she walked. She paused as she noticed something on the path ahead of them and around them. The morning dew seemed to glisten off of the silk of spiderwebs. And they were alarmingly huge.

@Emera Lore
Eric felt how warm her hands were. 'This is nice' he thought. But, then they began to cool down. He was saddened a little bit by that. Anyway, he looked at Aela. He noticed the calluses but chose not to say anything about them at the moment. Eric heard what Aela told him, about a dream and such. He blinked.
-"A dream?"
He leaned in for a moment as they walked.
-"About us? After all this? What was the dream about...."

He trailed off when he saw the webs. Emily saw the webs too. She stopped right behind them. She frowned.
"Some very large spiders must have made those."
She spoke rather quietly as she glanced around. She looked at the other two. Eric frowned.
-"I'm not sure....."

@Vampiretwilight

Aela walked forward to investigate the webs and glanced around to see anything. "Seems they aren't here..." that was when she noticed something huge. She approached cautiously to see something ghostly white it looked like it had scales?

Her free hand touched it gently and it began to glow light blue. "There's pure mana residue on this..."

Aela continues to investigate and sees a head and that what she saw was a giant skin of a serpent. Along the way several skulls or bones of various creatures are around. "It seems like this could be a nest of some kind..."

@Emera Lore
Emily blinked. She frowned. She looked worried and nervous. She glanced around.
"Perhaps we should hurry. Whatever made it might still be around. We do not want to bump into such a creature."

Eric glanced around. He had been trying to investigate with aela. He blinked and looked at Emily when he heard her. He sighed and nodded.
-"Perhaps. I will agree there may be some danger close by."

They both looked at Aela.

@Vampiretwilight

Aela thought for a moment, before she spoke: "We should try to avoid nests like this and double the pace to gain as much ground as we can. Do you think you two are up to that sort of task?"

@Emera Lore
Eric shrugged.
-"I could try....for you."

Emily blinked. She shrugged.
"I could try too, yes."
She heard Eric and fought a chuckle. Eric really liked her, she thought.

@Vampiretwilight

Aela nodded and picked up the pace to a jogging pace instead of a full on run. She set the pace for the other two her head racing with questions about the creature. What kind of creatures inhabited that swamp? I guess it makes sense that mortals try to avoid the place. For a while things ran smoothly for a few hours.

Once it was past noon however, there was a presence Aela could sense close by. It was a large beast, not like the one last night. Soon it's low jittering was heard. As a large spider about the size of a dog crossed their path paused to face them and let out a shriek. More shrieks echoed from the darkness in the swamp.

Aela whispered to the twins. "This one is young. He seems to be lost, and looking for its parents. We don't want to be here when that happens. As you might imagine."

@Emera Lore
Eric and Emily both tried to keep up with her. Jogging was still pretty fast though. Anyway, they did their best. 'So far so good' was the thought the twins both had in common. Time passed, at least a few hours anyway. Soon enough though, possibly mid-day, they stopped in their tracks suddenly.

They both sensed something amiss. They were not a hundred percent sure what it was, at least not right away. Then, they heard that low jittering, just like Aela did. Emily frowned nervously. Eric gave a concerned look. Both of them looked at Aela, especially when they heard that large shriek.

Emily gasped when she and Eric saw the creature that passed. They both listened to what Aela whispered. They both carefully nodded. They whispered back.
"Yes."
-"Of course."
They prepared to get out of there quickly.

If that huge spider creature was only a baby, they could only imagine what the parents must look like.
"We have to get out of here....now."
Eric nodded
-"I agree with that. Whatever is out there, we do NOT want to be it's lunch."

Aela gestured they go on ahead while summoning a small flame. It's eyes quickly look at Aela as it comes closer jittering. "Go you two I can only keep it distracted for so long."

Aela waited for the twins to run past it. As they did shrieks echoed into the clearing as the parents were closing in. Aela waited for the twins to gain enough of a lead to escape. It was only then did she run and leave a floating flame behind. The young spider pounced on it before it completely vanished into thin air.

Aela was running at a full sprint to catch up and it took a bit until she reached the twins and caught her breath after a few moments. "I see as to why mortals would die here and even those with magic would think that this place is dangerous. Probably a good reason we decided to go on the outside of the swamp then venture into it."

@Emera Lore
Emily blinked. She frowned. She did not want to leave anyone behind. Eric had the same look on his face. He did not want to leave Aela behind. But, Emily grabbed Erics' hand and made him follow her as she began to run. Eric had no choice. But, he kept glancing behind him, watching Aela.

They got as far away as they could. Eric could only run so fast. The same went for Emily. They were panting by the time they stopped running. They looked behind them, both of them this time that is, to see if Aela was alright, to see if she had made it. Emily sighed in relief when she saw Aela sprinting up to them. Eric also sighed in relief, but not just because Aela had caught up to them.

Aela was alright. She did not look hurt. Eric ran right to her. Emily had just barely managed a nod before Eric hugged her tight. Emily blinked. She sighed and shook her head.

Eric blinked. He quickly let go of her and cleared his throat.
-"um, yes. I....I am glad that you are alright."

Emily chuckled a little bit at that.
"Come on, you two lovebirds. Let's get going. Who knows what else might be out here?"

Eric narrowed his eyes at Emily, but nodded once.
-"...Alright."

@Vampiretwilight

Aela caught up with the twins glancing behind her for a moment and smiled exchanging a nod to Emily. Then she was quickly and tightly embraced by Eric. She let out a surprised gasp and yelp in the embrace, she relaxed after a few seconds and hugged him back.
"It's alright Eric. My opponent wasn't that strong.... but uh my shoulder please mind the shoulder."

With Emily's comment she nodded too and waited for Eric to let go as she let her arms drop. But to her surprise his arms didn't leave her. She decided to tease Eric a little, hopefully to lighten the tense mood. "You planning on carrying me until our next resting place?"

@Emera Lore
Eric blinked. He looked at Aela. He cleared his throat.
-"um.....I already let go of you."
He gave a bit of a sheepish smile. He reached out to hold her hand.

Emily chuckled a little bit. She rolled her eyes.
"Come on. Hurry up. We need to head out."
She almost smirked.

Eric blushed, but not just because of Emily. He had had his embraced returned by Aela. Things were going great and he hoped they stayed that way.

Emily began walking. Eric followed, making sure Aela was safe of course.

@Vampiretwilight

Aela laughed a bit to herself as she clasped Eric's hand. She lead him to catch up to Emily and then slowed down once she reached Emily's side she held her hand too. "I thought I told you two you were stuck with me."

@Emera Lore
Eric walked alongside Aela. He blinked when she held Emilys' hand.

Emily blinked. She looked at Aela and noticed her holding her hand. She rolled her eyes.
"Yes, but we don't have to hold hands."
She looked at Eric, who blushed.

@Vampiretwilight

Aela laughed at Emily’s and Eric’s reaction of holding Emily’s she let go of it. “But you had no problem holding hand when we were younger.” The journey was fairly peaceful and calm until they reached their next destination to make camp. The sunset was beautiful as it streaked across the sky.
Aela watched the sky for a moment while pondering what to cook for dinner before Eric and Emily would transform. “Do you guys have a preference of what you’d like to eat?”

@Emera Lore
"We were little kids back then. We are older now."
Emily was insisted. She started to blush.

Eric chuckled. He didn't mind holding the hand of the one he loved.

Soon enough, they reached the area where they would rest. The hours had passed. Well, they passed slowly for Emily. They passed quite fast for Eric, for obvious reasons. Anyway, Emily was relieved when the hand holding stopped. Eric frowned when it did, and he sighed as well. They both sat down for a moment or so.

They both looked at Aela when she asked about what they would like to eat. Emily shrugged.
"Anything is fine."

Eric blinked.
-"um....I will eat anything you make."

Emily smirked at him. Eric blushed and narrowed his eyes at Emily.

@Vampiretwilight

Aela smiled at Emily’s reaction to the past memories. With Eric’s comment about holding her hand she blushed for he also held her hand when she was younger. She made eye contact with him and smiled, at Eric she held his hand and continued to walk.

Aela decided to make sandwiches with the rest of the rolls remaining she toasted the rolls in an iron pan until the cheese melted over the jerky she had. “I hope you enjoy these before your long night. If you need protection just come on back here. Just be careful Nic you decide to explore the swamp. In fact, I would be more comfortable if you didn’t explore inside the swamp.